Frank D. Welch architectural records,

1960s-2000s

Frank D. Welch (1927-)
is an eminent Texas architect. Welch has designed close to 1,000 projects, both
built and unrealized. Notable early projects include the Forest Oil Building in
Midland (1974), the Forest Oil Field Headquarters Building in Odessa (1976) and
several residences, including The Birthday on Dorn's Sterling County ranch
(1966). Other well-known projects include the Sarofim Residence in Houston
(1973), Los Patios in San Antonio (1971, 1976), and the Shamoon Residence in
Dallas (1985). He was made a fellow in the American Institute of Architects in
1980. Collection consists of project files, professional papers, articles and
original writings, and office records (together 150 linear feet of manuscript
and photographic material), 649 rolls of drawings (approximately 29,000
sheets), 96 audio tapes, and approximately 10,000 35 mm slides documenting
Welch's career from the 1960s into the 2000s.

Frank Welch was born in Sherman, Texas in 1927. Welch enrolled at
Texas A&M in the summer of 1944 as a liberal arts major. By the end of the
first semester, he had decided to join the Merchant Marine in hopes of avoiding
the draft. He trained on Cataline Island and made one cruise across the Pacific
before the Japanese surrendered. Welch served roughly 6 months. Despite
resigning from the Merchant Marine, Welch was called up for the Selective
Service and served near Williamsburg, Virginia. After serving 18 months, he was
discharged as a corporal.

Returning to Texas A&M, Welch enrolled as an architecture student.
At the time, A&M was something of an outpost for modernism. It was the
first architecture school in the region to adopt the modernist style developed
at the Bauhaus in pre-war Weimar Germany. Welch earned his bachelor's degree in
architecture from Texas A&M in 1951. He received a Fulbright Scholarship in
France for 1952-53 where he spent time photographing people and street scenes
in Paris. These photos and others taken on a second visit in 1978 have since
been published in Texas Architect (Sept/Oct 1981)
and exhibited in galleries and museums across Texas. His photographs are in the
permanent collections of the Dallas Museum of Art.

After returning to Texas, Welch moved to Houston in 1955 and went to
work in the offices of Hamilton Brown and Thompson McCleary. Welch also met
pioneer Texas architect O'Neil Ford, later that year. Despite Ford's lack of
formal professional training, he had helped establish Texas modern regionalism
and pioneered experimental, modern structures.

This meeting with Ford was pivotal for Welch. Ford offered him a job
in his partnership with Corpus Christi architect Richard Colley. Working with
Ford inspired Welch's own style. Welch worked with the pair until 1959 when he
accepted his first solo commission remodeling the home of John and B. Lee Dorn
in Midland. He set up his practice in Odessa for over a year before moving to
Midland.

Welch has designed close to 1,000 projects, both built and unrealized.
Among Welch's most notable early projects are the Forest Oil Building in
Midland (1974), the Forest Oil Field Headquarters Building in Odessa (1976) and
several residences, including The Birthday on Dorn's Sterling County ranch
(1966). Other well-known projects include the Sarofim Residence in Houston
(1973), Los Patios in San Antonio (1971, 1976), and the Shamoon Residence in
Dallas (1985). His un-built projects include the U.S. Embassy in Djibouti
(1980) and designs for Pershing Square in Los Angeles (1998), a finalist in an
international competition.

In addition to his architectural practice, Welch has contributed
original writings on notable architects, including an article for
Texas Architect on Joseph Esherick and a foreward
to Mike McCullar's biography of Raiford Stripling, Restoring Texas: Raiford Stripling's Life and
Architecture (1985). Welch's own book on Philip Johnson,
Philip Johnson & Texas, was published in 2000.
Welch has been an active jurist and guest lecturer. He has served as an adjunct
professor at multiple institutions, including Rice University, University of
Houston, University of Texas at Arlington, and University of North Texas. Welch
has been the recipient of multiple awards and his work has been published
extensively.

A Fellow of the AIA since 1980, Welch opened an office in Dallas in
1983 and permanently moved there in 1985. Welch continues to be active in his
firm.

The Frank Welch Architectural Collection represents a comprehensive
documentation of Welch's firm spanning a period of over 50 years of practice
(1959-2012). In November 2011, the Alexander Architectural Archives acquired an
initial donation from the firm Frank Welch & Associates. This donation
consisted of research and reference materials, both manuscript and
photographic, and oral interviews pertaining to Welch's book Philip Johnson
& Texas (2000). Another, considerably larger donation was received by the
AAA in May 2012.

Current processing shows the Frank Welch Architectural Collection to
include 150 linear feet of manuscript and photographic materials, 649 rolls or
drawings (approximately 29,000 sheets) and approximately 10,000 slides of
architectural projects. The majority of these manuscript materials are project
files - called client files by Frank Welch & Associates - and
specifications. These begin in the 1960s and continue through the next four
decades and into the first decade of the 2000s.

Professional papers include original research and writings,
correspondence, clippings, association and committee papers, jurying and
teaching materials, and award entries. Office records are represented by
business correspondence, phone message and work order books, and reference
files. These include information on other architects and firms as well as
architectural, landscape, and decorative resources. Personal papers are limited
almost exclusively to correspondence.

Policies Governing Use and Access

This collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before
using archival materials. As all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site, advance notice of at
least three working days is required for retrieval. Certain items may require additional time for flattening or
humidifying before they can be viewed. Access is by appointment only. Please contact the archives' reference
staff for further information.

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information
that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the
disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals without the consent of those
individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasions of privacy may
arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a
reasonable person).

The Alexander Architectural Archives operate in accordance with applicable federal or state laws and
regulations, providing unrestricted access to university records not covered by state and federal right to
privacy acts.

The Alexander Architectural Archives, The University of Texas Libraries, and The University of Texas at Austin,
assume no responsibility for infringement of literary property rights and copyright or for liability to any
person for defamation or invasion of privacy that results from a researcher's use of collections.

Researchers agree to indemnify and hold harmless The University of Texas at Austin, and their officers,
employees, and agents from and against all suits, claims, actions, and expenses arising out of use of
collections held by the libraries. Please alert staff if anything inappropriate is found during research.

Copyright interests in this collection may not have been transferred to the University of Texas. Researchers
assume full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply. Additionally,
the public use of material must be cited. See citation information below.

This collection is indexed under the following headings in The
University of Texas Online Catalog. Researchers desiring materials about
related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these
headings